Contents

Concept and creation

The idea of a levitating island goes back at least as far as Nephelokokkygia ("Cloud Cuckoo Land"), the airborne city of birds from Aristophanes' play The Birds; another example is Laputa from Johnathan Swift's novel Gulliver's Travels.

Angel Island is likely to have been inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's interpretation of Laputa - a lost city, that is featured in his 1986 animated adventure film Laputa: Castle in the Sky. Similarities between Laputa and Angel Island include their dependency on a giant green gem to stay aloft, in Laputa this was called a Levistone. Many backgrounds for various Zones in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles are heavily influenced by number of Laputa's locations and both games' story sequences bear strong similarities to many scenes from the film.[1]

History

Creation

Over 4,000 years ago, Angel Island was part of the Mystic Ruins, where it was the location of the Altar of the Emeralds containing the Master Emerald and its Emeralds. One night, Pachacamac, the leader of the Knuckles Clan, decided to storm the Altar Emeralds and take the Emeralds to gain power. However, Pachacamac's daughter, Tikal, tried to stop them, believing using the Emeralds for power was terrible. However, Pachacamac did not listen and he raided the shrine, injuring or killing residential Chao in the process. This act infuriated Chaos, the Guardian God of the Chao, who used the seven Chaos Emeralds to transform into Perfect Chaos and destroyed most of the Knuckles Clan. Before Perfect Chaos could go destroy everything else in its blind rage, Tikal sealed it inside the Master Emerald. The sealing of Perfect Chaos created an energy surge from the Master Emerald, resulting in an energy backlash that ripped a large fragment of the land and a portion of the Mystic Ruins from the ground, causing it to float in the sky, thus creating Angel Island.[2]

Over time, stories about the Floating Island's creation arose, saying that the Gods arrived after the incident with Perfect Chaos, removing the territory as an island and hoisted it into the sky, isolating the Master Emerald from the world and taking the surviving Echidnas with it.[3]

After that, the Emeralds became known as Chaos Emeralds, and the Echidnas took the sacred role of guardians to make sure the tragedy could never repeat. In the present day, Knuckles the Echidna is the only surviving member of his tribe. It is unknown if the Chaos Emeralds scattered after Chaos was sealed, but it is known that the civilization of West Side Island used one of the seven Emeralds before it is believed the Gods sealed it away to prevent another misuse of power, and five or six of them may have been resting in the depths of Cocoa Island a very long time before the events of the series.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles

Sonic and Tails walking in Angel Island Zone.

In Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prower destroyed Dr. Ivo Robotnik's large space station, the Death Egg. After entering the atmosphere, the Death Egg crashed onto the Floating Island, pressing it down into the ocean. While rebuilding his forces, Robotnik met Knuckles, the guardian of the Master Emerald and the last living descendant of the island's civilization. Robotnik managed to trick the Echidna into believing that Sonic was coming to steal the Emerald. (The original manual stated it was the Chaos Emeralds that were used to trick him, and implied it was Knuckles' duty to watch over them all. This is still some source of confusion among fans. However, the Master Emerald was referred to as a unique Chaos Emerald in early Japanese manuals, and by association Knuckles would believe Sonic was the villain if he was found with the other Emeralds.) In the beginning of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic and Tails arrive at the island to investigate the cause of a recent tidal wave. Knuckles attacks them and steals their Chaos Emeralds, and hides the gems in Special Stages. Sonic and Tails continue through the island to find Robotnik attempting to re-launch the Death Egg. They battle through Robotnik's Launch Base and reach the main site. They board a convenient platform beneath the operational ship and have a throwdown with Robotnik. Sonic defeats Dr. Robotnik, making the Death Egg lose flight and plummet all the way down into the Lava Reef's volcanic mountain.

In Sonic & Knuckles, the direct continuation and expansion, Sonic (and Tails if locked on) travel to the inside of the volcano. They discover the Hidden Palace, and battle Knuckles there. After Knuckles is defeated, the three hear some ruckus further away in the palace, and they run off. The three find that Robotnik took advantage of the commotion to find and steal the Master Emerald. Knuckles discovers who the real villain is, tries to stop him, but gets electrocuted. After Robotnik escapes with it, the three fall down to a hidden room. Knuckles, after regaining consciousness, takes Sonic and Tails to a special room with a teleportation device that sends them to ancient floating ruins called the Sky Sanctuary. There, the Death Egg is relaunched with an added power boost from the Master Emerald, and humanoid EggRobos are ejected to slow them down. Knuckles is too tired, so he stays behind while Sonic and Tails go on to infiltrate and destroy the Death Egg. Once the Death Egg crumbles, Robotnik takes the Emerald in his escape mech and tries to make a swift getaway in space, but Sonic uses the power of the Emeralds to give chase with no sign of Tails. The two battle in deep space while dodging asteroids. Finally, Robotnik is defeated and Sonic falls back to earth. Luckily, Tails catches him in the Tornado and they return the Master Emerald back to where it belongs. With the Floating Island once again airborne, the two fly off and end the game.

In Knuckles' story of the game, the Master Emerald is stolen again by the remaining EggRobo, and the Floating Island starts wobbling. Knuckles goes through the island and eventually clashes with an Emerald-powered Mecha Sonic. After defeating him, the area they were on begins to crumble, but Knuckles and the Master Emerald are saved by Sonic in the Tornado.

Areas

Angel Island Zone, A beautiful tropical forest with many waterfalls and shallow lakes. The forest is subjected to a Napalm bombing halfway through the first Act.

Hydrocity Zone, An underground city of ancient ruins, half-submerged in water.

Carnival Night Zone, A colorful, theme park-like city. Bounce and flip your way through Angel Island's exciting nightlife, using the bumpers and anti-gravity platforms. But look out when Knuckles cuts the power!

IceCap Zone, A vast, mountainous region that is always covered in a thick blanket of white snow, also featuring massive caverns, deep snowdrifts, and icy slopes to slide down. Glaciers and ice lakes can be found along the IceCap Zone.

Launch Base Zone, A fortified construction site for the re-launching of the Death Egg, with several of Dr. Robotnik's strongest Badniks on patrol, flamethrowers, laser barriers, teleportation chambers and ridable pipes.

Mushroom Hill Zone, A huge forest. Here, fantastic mushrooms of all shapes and sizes grow, many of which can be used to help you in different ways.

Flying Battery Zone, One of Robotnik's flying warships. Although there are many opportunities for hit high speeds, you'll have to be careful wherever you are- sneaky traps are everywhere.

Sandopolis Zone, A large, scorching desert, with many concentrations of ancient ruins, deep quicksand pits, and sheer cliff faces, which are just right for abseiling down to get rings. Act 2 takes place inside a Pyramid, haunted by ghosts who are vulnerable to light.

Lava Reef Zone, An underground volcanic network, where the Death Egg has landed since it crashed in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. With huge magma pits, periodic lava falls, exploding rock-like badniks and fireball-launching cannons, a Flame Shield is a good thing to have to avoid suffering a hot foot.

Hidden Palace Zone, An ancient, secret temple of the Echidnas, and where the Master Emerald lies. Here, you fight Knuckles, and more of the plot unfolds - Doctor Robotnik steals the Master Emerald, and through it, Knuckles finds out who the real villain is.

Sky Sanctuary Zone, Ancient ruins that float in the sky, accessible via teleports in the Hidden Palace. Here, most of the events here come to an end, Knuckles battles Mecha Sonic for the Master Emerald, and Sonic and Tails prepare to infiltrate the Death Egg. EggRobos patrol most of the hidden areas of the Zone.

2-player Race Mode

Azure Lake, a course set by the side of a huge lake at night time. Relatively straightforward, it features a deep pool of water that needs to be jumped over at one point.

Balloon Park, a theme park-like city, very much like Carnival Night Zone. Its main features are its unique loop, and the colorful balloons that can be jumped on to be bounced into the air.

Desert Palace, an oasis within the middle of the desert, surrounded by ancient ruins. Although also quite straightforward, it has hazards in the shape of a large quicksand pit, and a collapsing sand-bridge that needs to be taken at speed.

Chrome Gadget, a high-tech environment, presumably based on one of Doctor Robotnik's bases.

Endless Mine, a dark, abandoned mine. Featuring breakable walls and a long, fairly complicated layout, it is generally considered to be one of the most difficult 2-player racing courses.

Sonic Adventure

In Sonic Adventure, it is now renamed Angel Island as of the redesign, after the first zone of its debut game. Knuckles' story begins with him sleeping next to the Master Emerald when it is suddenly shattered, revealing Chaos (and also, secretly, a strange red orb form of Tikal). Knuckles attacks Chaos, but is swiftly defeated, and Chaos melts away. Due to the pieces of the Master Emerald flying away everywhere, the island crashes in the Mystic Ruins below, confusing everybody about where the Ruin's new "mountains" came from. Knuckles goes on a quest to find all the pieces, which he eventually does at the end of his story, nearly destroying Chaos in the process. In the game's "Final" story (Super Sonic), the island falls again due to Chaos and Tikal not taking their rightful places back in the Master Emerald. Later, Eggman crashes on the grounded Angel Island in his floating pod, after Chaos had betrayed and attacked him. Chaos then steals the six Chaos Emeralds Knuckles brought to the shrine after previously defeating him.

Areas

Angel Island Adventure Field, an area part of the Mystic Ruins Adventure Field. Going through a windy cave in Mystic Ruins leads a long cave tunnel inside Angel Island, which leads to IceCap and a large open area where the Master Emerald shrine and a path to Red Mountain are located.

Icecap, the same arctic mountain as the one in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. The ice stone, a key to the portal to this action stage, fell in a city alley of Station Square.

Sonic Adventure 2

In Sonic Adventure 2, Rouge the Bat steals the Master Emerald, which is shattered by Knuckles himself due to Eggman trying to steal it while Knuckles and Rouge were arguing. Rouge is furious, but Knuckles explains he did it as an emergency measure as only he can put it back together. It is unknown if the desert area that the Master Emerald is seen in during the first cutscene is located on the Angel Island, or if Rouge had taken the Master Emerald with her, and that Knuckles had chased her to the current location. The "Wild Canyon" stage may also be located on the island, as there are several Echidna murals on it, and the lyrics to the music (which is assumed to be Knuckles' thoughts), contains "I've gotta protect this place, I'll do it for my race".

Sonic Advance 3

In Sonic Advance 3, Eggman uses Chaos Control to split the world in seven pieces. The seventh piece is Chaos Angel, a large amount of floating ruins set in a semi-apocalyptic theme. The ruins are assumed to be part of Angel Island, as the boss of Chaos Angel is fought right at what is now called Altar Emerald. In the background of the final boss fight in Altar Emerald, there is an altar holding the Master Emerald, indicating that the fight takes place at Angel Island.

Sonic Rivals

Prior to the events of Sonic Rivals, Doctor Eggman Nega brings Onyx Island, which is the future version of Angel Island, to the present. Sonic and Tails travel to the island to investigate only for Tails to be imprisoned in a card thanks to Eggman Nega's camera. Knuckles seeks Eggman for the Master Emerald's disappearance in which as he took a picture of the Master Emerald, it disappears in all existing time frames.

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Angel Island disappears from its normal location over Mystic Ruins; it is revealed that the leader of the villainous Marauders, Ix, was using the Chaos Emeralds to tow the Island over to his base in Metropolis with the intent on invading it and stealing the Master Emerald. Angel Island seems smaller than it usually is, but if the player looks around the top right area of the map on the top screen, a section of trees and/or mountains can be seen, which could mean the island continues more in that direction and the player only moves around a small area at the edge of Angel Island.

Other game appearances

In Sonic Advance, Angel Island is simply a zone in itself. It is filled with ancient ruins and some sand, and the boss is a robotic Knuckles, which ironically pokes fun at Knuckles. Its overall appearance highly resembles the Sky Sanctuary Zone.

In Sonic Pinball Party, there is an Angel Island board based on the stage from Sonic Advance. Tikal makes a cameo there as a stone carving.

In Sonic Advance 2, the floating Angel Island is seen on the stage select map. Upon selecting the island, the player enters the Sky Canyon stage, which is seemingly set on a cloudy, canyon-filled mountain. When you first finish the level in story mode as Sonic, the boss is Knuckles himself, who has been tricked by Eggman.

In Sonic Battle, Knuckles lives on a mountain known as "Holy Summit", an area that resembles the Sonic Adventure Adventure Field. Some ruins and an altar is nearby, and Chaos can be fought in the crater. While it is possible that this is indeed Angel Island, the adjacent areas appear to be either mainland or a normal island.

In the 2013 re-release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the Floating Island makes a brief appearance in the good ending of the game, which is seen if all the Chaos Emeralds are collected. The Death Egg is shown approaching the Floating Island, and then the aftermath of the crash is shown, revealing Dr. Robotnik's survival. He immediately throws a childish temper tandrum in front of his wrecked Death Egg Robot, as certain echidna-shaped eyes slowly reveal themselves from within the bushes and ominously stare at the doctor. This scene is missing from previous versions of the game, as the only difference shown in the original game's endings is the presence of Super Sonic and/or different animals.

In Sonic Jump, Angel Island is visited by Eggman where he intends to get the last of the Chaos Emeralds from Knuckles. Knuckles refuses to hand over the Chaos Emerald and, suddenly, Sonic shows up. Knuckles isn't too thrilled to see Sonic but when Knuckles looks over at Sonic, Eggman uses that opportunity to steal the Chaos Emerald from a distracted Knuckles. Sonic wants to know what Eggman is going to do with all seven of the Chaos Emeralds and Eggman replies that he is going to take over the world as usual. However, Eggman plans to use the Emeralds in his latest creation, the Brainwash Beam. With that, Eggman takes his leave and Tails is worried that now, Eggman has all of the Emeralds. Knuckles blames Sonic for distracting him leading to the last Chaos Emerald being taken but Sonic replies that Knuckles was the one who turned his attention away from Eggman in the first place. Tails breaks up the arguement and tells them that Eggman plans to use the Chaos Emeralds to try and brainwash the entire world. Sonic asks Tails where they could find Eggman and Tails says that Eggman has to be in outer space since it's the only way to send the brainwash waves across the world. Tails continues saying that Eggman may have a space station in South America and plans to use a rocket to launch into space from there. Sonic prepares to go off and find Eggman and leaves Angel Island.

Apperances in other media

Sonic the Comic

In the Fleetway-published Sonic the Comic continuity, Angel Island remains largely the same. However, it is never referred to as 'Angel Island'; instead, the comic uses the name 'Floating Island'.

The Floating Island was initially a myth to the people of Mobius, only known through old stories and the shadows it sometimes cast on clouds as it passed. As in the games continuity, Knuckles lived alone on the island for as long as he could remember, with only ruins and ancient texts to help him understand his long-departed people, the Ancient Echidnas. The Island was able to fly by the power of its six Chaos Emeralds (which had long ago been separated from the six that were eventually used by Doctor Ovi Kintobor in his ROCC[4]), which Knuckles solemnly guarded.[5]

However, everything changed when Doctor Robotnik's second Death Egg crashed in the Ice Cap Zone. Robotnik tricked Knuckles into becoming his bodyguard by claiming that Sonic and his Freedom Fighters sought to steal the Chaos Emeralds.[5] Robotnik constructed a Launch Base in which he began repairs on his Death Egg, and populated the Island with his badniks and Troopers.[6] He also made the existence of the Island public knowledge among the people of Mobius.[7]

Knuckles and Robotnik managed to steal Sonic's six Chaos Emeralds, and re-join them with the six already on the Floating Island. Robotnik attempted to betray Knuckles and take the Emerald power for himself, but unsuccessfully, and Knuckles kept the Emeralds with him on the Floating Island, safe in their shrine.[8] Over time, the now-whole Chaos Emeralds regenerated into much larger gems,[9] becoming powerful enough to protect the entire island in an energy barrier.[10]

After discovering Robotnik's true nature, Knuckles set out to eradicate any trace of the evil doctor from the island. When he discovered that Robotnik's cronies the Marxio Bros. had set up the Carnival Night Zone on one end of the island, he was briefly convinced that they were not affiliated with Robotnik, and he allowed them to stay after they offered to let him use the park's revenue to fix up the Island's ancient monuments. However, he soon discovered the ruse, leading him to separate the Zone, and the entire edge of the Island, from the main landmass via one punch to a fault-line, sending it plummeting to the planet below.[11]

Sonic and Knuckles teamed up in an attempt to prevent the launch of Robotnik's Death Egg, but they were too late. The Master Emerald was stolen from the Hidden Palace by Metallix,[12] and then used by Robotnik to power the Death Egg. While Sonic infiltrated the Death Egg, Knuckles consulted the ancient texts to activate the Island's ancient technology. He was able to use the island's propulsion system to move the entire island towards the Death Egg, then cripple the Death Egg with devastating energy weapons. (It is assumed that these weapons were built by the ancient echidnas for use in their war against the Drakon Empire, although this is not made clear.)

In exchange for recovering the Master Emerald, Sonic asked Knuckles for a favor. In particular, he requested the Knuckles provide a safe haven for the Emerald Hill Folk, to protect them from Robotnik's wrath. Knuckles agreed, and the entire population of the Emerald Hill Zone was moved to the Floating Island's Mushroom Hill Zone, to be protected by the island's force field.[13] After a lengthy time away from the island, Knuckles returned to find that Robotnik was back again, this time linking the populace of the Floating Island to a giant biological computer that would operate off their living brains instead of microchips.[14] This plan was quashed by Sonic, Knuckles and the Omni-Viewer, and Robotnik was defeated and finally overthrown as ruler of Mobius.[15] With Robotnik deposed, the Emerald Hill Folk were finally able to return to the Emerald Hill Zone. Only Porker Lewis remained behind on the island with Knuckles, to help him repair the Island's ancient technology.[16]

During the last arc of the comic, the Chaos creature attacked the Emerald Chamber and managed to absorb the Blue Chaos Emerald. To stop the creature, Knuckles had no choice but to scatter the other gems to the four corners of Mobius, thus removing the island's buoyancy and sending it crashing into the ocean below, where it sunk.

One of the first stories for the STC-Online continuation of the comic involved the recovery of the Floating Island from the bottom of the Mobian Channel.

Archie Comics

The island presents a very different backstory in the Sonic the Hedgehog comics. According to history, it was once a part of the continent of Downunda, and home to the Echidna city of Echidnaopolis. However, a massive body known as the White Comet came towards the area on a collision course. In order to save themselves, the Echidnas used 12 Chaos Emeralds to raise their city and a portion of the surrounding area into the sky, thus creating the Floating Island and the Great Crater. The Island was renamed Angel Island after the Echidna Angel-La, mother of Edmund the first guardian. According to a map in the first Knuckles (miniseries) mini-series, there is also a place called Angel Island within the island itself, which was meant to explain an apparent naming discrepancy between the names "Angel Island" in Sonic 3 and "Floating Island" in the comic at the time. However, the discrepancy in the number of emeralds (one in the comic compared to the seven in the video games) was not addressed for much longer, in issue 56 where the "Master Emerald" was introduced into the continuity.

Angel Island serves as the battleground between the Brotherhood of Guardians and its allies against the Dark Legion. The battle has raged for centuries, beginning after Dark Legion leader Dimitri absorbed the energies of eleven of the Island's original emeralds and became Enerjak. After Enerjak's defeat, Dimitri's son Menniker founded the Dark Legion in opposition to technology bans, resulting in the Legion becoming a sort of technocratic cult. The battles have had many catastrophic effects, and the island was rendered uninhabitable for a time in response to a nuclear attack by the Dark Legion. In order to protect the citizens, the Guardian of that period transported the city of Echidnaopolis into another zone.

The Island is also home to the Dingoes, a race who by-and-large despise their Echidna neighbors. This has led to them being minor antagonists in the series. (This is a nod to the relationship between real-world dingoes and echidnas, in which dingoes are efficient echidna hunters.) Eventually, this led to the Dingoes siding with Dr. Robotnik, taking over Angel Island before being defeated by the joint efforts of the Chaotix and the Dark Legion. The Dingoes continued to menace the island, but eventually found themselves facing a new adversary in the form of the Destructix. Because of their efforts, the group of escaped criminals earned their leader, Dr. Finitevus, the position as Angel Island's caretaker from Locke. Dr. Finitevus soon changed the face of Angel Island by brainwashing Knuckles the Echidna into becoming a new Enerjak. The Dark Legion, formerly involved in civil war, briefly reunified to face this threat, only to be stripped of their cyborg implants. Those who were glad for the change, as well as the surviving inhabitants of Echidnaopolis, were transported to the abandoned island of Albion to build a new life for themselves; the remainder later moved to Megaopolis under the command of Dr. Eggman. Enerjak then stripped the Dingoes of all technology and banished them to Sandopolis, executing their leader Kage Von Stryker and destroying their city Cavem Canus at the same time. Later, Enerjak's battle with Super Sonic resulted in the Master Emerald Shrine becoming a separate island floating near to the main body of Angel Island. Following Enerjak's defeat, the Dingoes began making their way back towards the center of the island, while no other intelligent races were known to remain.

Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series)

In Sonic the Hedgehog animated series, after two Freedom Fighters were roboticized, Dulcy mentions that Sally and Sonic could go back in time to stop Robotnik before he took over using the Time Stones which are only found on the Floating Island. Sally dismissed the idea, as well as the Time Stones and the Floating Island as a myth. Sally later learned that she was wrong about the Floating Island.

Sonic Underground

Sonic and his siblings went to the Floating Island to look for their mother in Sonic Underground. They encountered Knuckles, who mistakenly believes that they've come to steal the Chaos Emerald that keeps it afloat. When he finds out that Sleet and Dingo lied to him, Knuckles teams up with the Sonic Underground and stops them.

Sonic X

In Sonic X, Angel Island mostly mirrors its role in the games, with some differences. The island is originally part of Sonic's home planet, but is transported to Earth via Chaos Control later in the series. The island and its Master Emerald then play a role in the series when it mirrors the stories from Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2, before being sent back to its original planet.

In the third season (second series), Angel Island is revealed to be the location of the Planet Egg, which is the planet's life source. The egg is stolen, and as a result, the planet's flora starts to wither.

Sonic Boom

Trivia

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the Subspace Emissary mode has an area known as the Isle of Ancients. In the last part of the level, "Outside the Ancient Ruins," the island has a similar appearance to Angel Island if one looks into the background.

Strangely, when the Master Emerald shattered in Sonic Adventure 2, the fate of Angel Island is never mentioned. Given previous circumstances, it is likely to have returned to the surface until Knuckles was able to bring the Emerald back. Sonic Universe #63 appears to take this view, as it is mentioned that the island had fallen during the events that took place in the game.